


Must Be A Moonshadow Thing

by Cherry101



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 00:47:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18109913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry101/pseuds/Cherry101
Summary: Runaan tells her about the disease. He had it himself, once, and he doesn't want her to make the same mistakes as he did.If only he could see her now, Rayla thinks dryly. Coughing up daffodils in the comfort of her room.~~~Or, when Rayla falls in love, she falls hard.





	1. Chapter 1

The petals come when she’s least expecting them. 

 

Rayla’s heard of the disease. Hanahaki, Runaan had called it. He had shown her a collection of dead petals, kept maintained by what little earthblood magic Tikaal had, and explained the severity of them. 

 

_ “Hanahaki is a serious disease, Rayla,”  _ He had said, his tone unusually dark,  _ “I very easily could’ve died.”  _

 

_ “I never want to fall in love then,”  _ she had replied, with all the severity she could muster at her age. 

 

Well, Rayla thinks now, darkly, she had broken that promise. 

 

The petals come after the war. She’s nineteen now, watching Ezran and Callum talk over boring politics and government and stuff she has no interest in. More than one pair of eyes are watching her, but she doesn’t care that much, knowing that the King will keep her safe if need be. 

 

She’s watching them, and she watches Callum laugh, and her chest bursts with something that is perhaps a little bit more than mere fondness. It is a feeling that makes her want to keep him smiling forever, to find all the ways to make him laugh because… because… 

 

When she finally recognizes the feeling, it comes with a heavy cough - one that rattles her chest and leaves her throat feeling raw. Now, even more eyes are on her - including two pairs of worried glances. 

 

“I’m fine,” she mumbles, standing up, “...probably just the dust. In the air. If you’ll excuse me.” And with that she forces herself out of the room, down the halls into the comfort of the bedroom that Ezran had graciously lended to her. 

 

As soon as she’s able to shut the door behind her, her lungs force out another long cough, and she covers her mouth with her hands and sinks to the floor, her chest heaving. 

 

When her coughing stops, three yellow petals sit, speckled in blood, in her hands. 

 

Oh. 

 

Oh  _ no.  _

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

The next time she coughs up petals, it’s during a meeting with several other elves and humans. 

 

Present at this meeting are Callum and herself, along with Janai, a skywing elf named Kalor, an earthblood elf named Forelia, an oceanwave elf named Aaliyah, and a couple of humans from the other human kingdoms. Rayla doesn’t know their names. All that’s missing is an ambassador from the startouch elves, but as they tend to mind their own business, they didn’t send one. 

 

The meeting starts as usual - tense hostility between the humans and the elves, bitter accusations that have to be soothed away - and Rayla can  _ feel  _ Callum’s exasperation. She glances over at him - his green eyes tired, his lips drawn back in a frown - and shifts her hand to gently place it atop of Callum’s, offering her human… friend a wry smile. 

 

Callum meets her eyes, and he smiles back. 

 

Rayla’s heart seizes in her chest. Without much warning, her lungs burst and she covers her mouth as she breaks into another coughing fit. Gentle hands hold her back and stroke hair out of her face as she heaves, and when her fit is over, she’s met with worried eyes. 

 

“Rayla… Rayla, are you okay?” Callum asks, his tone soft and concerned. 

 

Just looking at him makes her almost start coughing again, and so she nods, shifting her hands and sitting up straight again, “I’m okay. Let’s just continue the meeting.” 

 

She forces herself to not look at him again, her fist closing around the petals. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Over the weeks, the coughing keeps up. Rayla says that she must have some sort of sickness - one that only moonshadow elves can get, perhaps, since that way nobody else can contradict her. 

 

She misses Runaan intensely during these weeks - mostly because he had hanahaki and survived and she knows he did so by confessing but she doesn’t even know where to start when it comes to a confession. 

 

How can she tell her big dumb human that maybe she might be in love with him? After all, she saw the way he had mooned after Claudia, all those years ago. Those feelings may be gone, sure, but he’s never looked at her the same way, never acted the way he acted around the human mage. 

 

What chance does she have, then? 

 

Rayla keeps the petals that she coughs up, safely stored away in a box so she can examine them later. She doesn’t know her flowers that well. One day, she sits down with a book, her door shut and locked for her own safety. 

 

Daffodil, the books says. Pure love. The only one I’ll ever love, the sun is always shining when I’m with you. How accurate, she thinks, that even the flowers say that there’s no chance of her simply getting over her feelings. Her bond with the human prince is far too strong for that. No. 

 

It gets harder and harder to hide the flowers growing in her lungs. Harder, and harder, until Ezran finds her on her knees, hacking up a lung, her hands spattered in her own blood. 

 

“Rayla, Rayla, what’s going on?” He sits next to her when the fit is over, staring in horror at the full-flowered daffodil sitting in her palm, the yellow petals speckled with red. 

 

Apparently, humans have never heard of hanahaki - and how fitting, that the poetic disease only be attainable by elves. She explains it in pieces, hesitant. There’s no guarantee that Ezran won’t go running to his brother, so she doesn’t say explicitly who it is that’s causing flowers to sprout in her lungs. 

 

Still, he gives her a knowing look. 

 

“You need to get help, Rayla,” he insists, “surely there’s… there’s something.” 

 

“There’s no cure, Ez,” she says sadly, “none that I would willingly take. The only way known… it takes away all memories. I can’t do that. I can’t force myself to erase him.” 

 

“Then talk to him,” the King persists, “tell him how you feel. I know my brother - he may be an idiot, but he isn’t a fool. He won’t realize that he likes you too until you shove it in his face.” 

 

“How did you-” 

 

“I’m not an idiot either, Rayla. Of course you’re talking about Callum. I see the way you look at him.” And Ezran gives her a comforting smile, gently taking the bloodstained flower from her hands. He feels so confident that he’ll return her feelings… 

 

She never gets the chance to ask. 

 

The next day, she peacefully walks the halls. They don’t spend a whole lot of time in Katolis - unfortunately, being ambassadors and all. Rayla’s learned to really enjoy her time in Katolis when she can - the castle is actually pretty nice, once she isn’t trying to kill someone or running away with a stolen egg. 

 

She rounds a corner and sees him then. Callum. He’s talking to the oceanwave elf ambassador, Aaliyah, laughing and smiling in the same way that only Rayla’s been able to do thus far. She shyly offers the prince her hand and he takes it and Rayla’s heart seizes again. 

 

She can’t. 

 

The mere thought of Callum liking someone else sends flowers shooting up her throat. She barely makes it into her room before she coughs and coughs and coughs and the flowers catch on her throat sending droplets of blood splattering to the floor and she’s so tired and everything hurts it  _ hurts-  _

 

Her door opens but her vision is too blurry to see, her hearing all but gone as she collapses to the floor. Flowers scatter around her, and she curls in on herself, groaning. 

 

“Rayla!” And for an instant, her hearing returns, her vision clearing just enough to see Callum bent over, eyes wide and panicked. 

 

Briefly, she wonders how he got there so quickly, or maybe how long she spent by herself, coughing and coughing. Her throat hurts and her lungs hurt and everything hurts… 

 

“Rayla, please. What’s wrong? How can I help you?” Callum’s all but yelling, his voice pleading as he begs her for something she can’t give him. 

 

Well, she can try. 

 

“Cal…” her voice is all but gone, raspy and hoarse. “Callum, I… I…” 

 

She doesn’t have the strength to continue. 

 

Callum’s voice - his words no longer distinguishable - guide her into darkness. 


	2. Flowers for Those Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was vacationing all day, you guys better be lucky that I had the foresight to go ahead and write a part 2. I'm not saying it's much better, but its definitely something, right? 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

Something’s wrong with Rayla. 

 

Callum senses it the first time she bursts into a coughing fit, startling him and Ezran both. He’s never heard her cough before - not even the tiniest of sniffles - and he’d always assumed that elves just don’t get sick the same way that humans do. 

 

“Rayla?” He had asked, but the question in his voice goes unnoticed - he isn’t sure if she even heard him. 

 

“I’m fine,” she mumbles before excusing herself and leaving. That, too, is out of character for her - as much as she’s hated being an ambassador, she loves spending time with Ezran and he knows she wouldn’t pass up the chance to see him like that. 

 

Still. 

 

Callum doesn’t know what to say or how to react. Sometimes - despite the nearly five years spent together - he feels that he doesn’t know Rayla as much as claims to. This isn’t necessarily his fault, as she definitely isn’t the most open person - er, elf? - in the world. 

 

When she starts coughing the second time - mere seconds after offering him a comforting smile and a light touch of her hand - Callum starts to worry. She’s so out of it, she doesn’t seem to notice the concerned glances of the other ambassadors. He ends up stroking her back lightly, subconsciously brushing hair out of her face. It’s all he can think to do; he’s so used to being the comforted that he doesn’t really know to be the comforter.

 

Rayla says she’s fine, afterwards, but he doesn’t believe her. 

 

Seeing Rayla so sick, watching her cough and miserably curl up on herself is almost akin to torture and he doesn’t even understand why. Callum doesn’t know why seeing her in such pain hurts him; sure, friends care about each other but he doesn’t think that physically hurting is something as simple as being caring. 

 

Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe. 

 

“She’s getting worse,” Ezran tells him in a low murmur, casting worried glances to a spaced-out Rayla, “she says it must be some sort of Moonshadow sickness but-” 

 

“-you’re not sure if she’s telling the truth,” Callum finishes, a sick feeling in his stomach. Not only has she been coughing all the time, she’s also been avoiding him. That, really, isn’t normal - in all the arguments they’ve had over the years, he’s never upset her enough to cause her to avoid him. 

 

He doesn’t even know what he may have done. 

 

It’s several weeks later when an answer hits him in the face. Quite literally. 

 

“Do you like Rayla?” Ezran practically demands, smacking him in the face with his arms as he asks. 

 

“Do I  _ what _ ?” 

 

“Like Rayla? You know, like like her?” 

 

“Ez…” Callum rubs at his eyes, “I… you can’t just ask me that!” 

 

“It’s important though!” Ezran insists, sitting down crisscrossed in front of him, “listen Callum. Do you think about her all the time? Do you want to make her happy?” 

 

Callum frowns, but… if he’s being honest with himself… 

 

“Okay, okay, I… might - I said might! - have a crush on her. A little one.” He’s deluding himself, but he refuses to admit it. 

 

“You should tell her,” Ezran looks far too happy and Callum shoots him a death glare. 

 

“Tell her, how would I even do that?” 

 

“I don’t know…” Ezran glances around, “Practice on Aaliyah!” 

 

The young oceanwave elf, who had been passing by, blinks a couple of times, “I’m sorry, what was that?” 

 

“You can help Callum practice confessing his undying love for Rayla!” Ezran gives them both mischievous glances before practically skipping away.

 

To be fair, though, it works - Callum spends several days practicing with Aaliyah, and talking to her as well. Shy as she is, it was hard to get her to open up enough, but she seemed very… well, very enthusiastic about getting Callum and Rayla together. 

 

“I just think you two are very nice together,” she says simply, “it would be good for both the humans and the elves to see you two as a couple.” 

 

One day(a miserable day), he’s practicing with Aaliyah, as always. Her Rayla impression has gotten much better, and he’s able to force laughter and a smile while talking. With how drawn off Rayla’s been recently, it’s actually kind of nice. 

 

Then, he hears footsteps. 

 

He turns his head to see Rayla - or, at least, he thinks it’s Rayla - very quickly walking off, her head low. He turns to Aaliyah, and she gives him a look of horror. 

 

“Go after her,” she says simply, and so he does, running after the elf that he cares about so much. 

 

When he finds her, his heart shatters. 

 

She’s in her room - not surprising - and although her door is closed, it is unlocked. He easily pushes it open, her name on his lips. 

 

“Ray- Rayla!” 

 

She’s on her knees and then on the floor, curled in a ball while coughing. Blood droplets spray from the force of her coughs, along with something… yellow? 

 

He runs. 

 

Callum drops to his knees, gently maneuvering Rayla so that he’s holding her, clutching her aching body to his own, saying her name over and over and over. 

 

“Rayla - Rayla, please, what’s wrong? How can I help you?” He begs her, his voice rising accidentally. Not that he can help it. 

 

Her coughing stops, and she looks at him for the first time. Her eyes are glazed and unfocused, her lips drawn back in a grimace. Callum can’t help but pull her closer to him, smoothing back her hair and praying that she’ll be okay.    
  


“Cal… Callum, I… I…” she stutters in a hoarse voice, no louder than a whisper. He leans in closer, hoping to catch the last of her words, hoping that maybe she’ll tell him what to  _ do.  _

 

However, instead, her eyes close and her head falls limp into his lap. 

 

“Rayla!” Callum cries out, his heart beating frantically, “Rayla - Rayla, please, wake up!  _ Please… _ !” 

 

Nothing. 

 

His heart shatters into pieces when hers stops. 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Hanahaki, Ezran calls it, stumbling over the syllables in his grief. 

 

It’s only been a couple of days since… since the incident, and only now is Ezran able to say something. Callum doesn’t know if he could’ve listened, any other day. His head hurts, and his heart hurts, and he just feels… numb. 

 

“That sounds fake,” he murmurs, frowning. 

 

Ezran just shakes his head, “I did research when Rayla told me. It’s an elf thing, apparently.” He sniffs, wiping at his eyes, “she said… she said that she had fallen in love. That love was making her sick.” 

 

“That makes no sense,” Callum frowns more, shaking his head, “who… who would she be in love with? And why didn’t she say anything about it?”

 

And Ezran just gives him this sad, sad look, his gaze solemn and sorrowful, “she was afraid, Callum.” 

 

And it isn’t like Ezran said a name or anything but the pieces click together. Ezran pushing Callum to confess, and Rayla telling Ezran about her disease… it makes sense and he almost wishes it didn’t because the thought of it… 

 

The thought of it… 

 

“I killed her,” he whispers, no doubt that his own shock and disbelief is displayed on his face, “I… this is all my fault, I killed her, I killed her!” 

 

“No, you didn’t!” Ezran attempts to say, scooting closer to Callum, “Callum, it wasn’t your-”

 

“If I had just confessed-”

 

“Callum…” 

 

“If I had just told her that I loved her!” 

 

Immediately after saying this, his chest feels heavy and he coughs, his throat itchy. 

 

“I killed her,” he repeats quietly, “I… I need to be alone right now Ez.” With that, he stands up, walking away, shaking his head. 

 

Three petals lay on the seat he abandoned. 

  
  



	3. Take Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After some... internal debate, I decided to go ahead and write an alternative chapter to the last one! You are very welcome. It starts the same, but the ending is different. Enjoy!

****

Something’s wrong with Rayla. 

 

Callum senses it the first time she bursts into a coughing fit, startling him and Ezran both. He’s never heard her cough before - not even the tiniest of sniffles - and he’d always assumed that elves just don’t get sick the same way that humans do. 

 

“Rayla?” He had asked, but the question in his voice goes unnoticed - he isn’t sure if she even heard him. 

 

“I’m fine,” she mumbles before excusing herself and leaving. That, too, is out of character for her - as much as she’s hated being an ambassador, she loves spending time with Ezran and he knows she wouldn’t pass up the chance to see him like that. 

 

Still. 

 

Callum doesn’t know what to say or how to react. Sometimes - despite the nearly five years spent together - he feels that he doesn’t know Rayla as much as claims to. This isn’t necessarily his fault, as she definitely isn’t the most open person - er, elf? - in the world. 

 

When she starts coughing the second time - mere seconds after offering him a comforting smile and a light touch of her hand - Callum starts to worry. She’s so out of it, she doesn’t seem to notice the concerned glances of the other ambassadors. He ends up stroking her back lightly, subconsciously brushing hair out of her face. It’s all he can think to do; he’s so used to being the comforted that he doesn’t really know to be the comforter.

 

Rayla says she’s fine, afterwards, but he doesn’t believe her. 

 

Seeing Rayla so sick, watching her cough and miserably curl up on herself is almost akin to torture and he doesn’t even understand why. Callum doesn’t know why seeing her in such pain hurts him; sure, friends care about each other but he doesn’t think that physically hurting is something as simple as being caring. 

 

Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe. 

 

“She’s getting worse,” Ezran tells him in a low murmur, casting worried glances to a spaced-out Rayla, “she says it must be some sort of Moonshadow sickness but-” 

 

“-you’re not sure if she’s telling the truth,” Callum finishes, a sick feeling in his stomach. Not only has she been coughing all the time, she’s also been avoiding him. That, really, isn’t normal - in all the arguments they’ve had over the years, he’s never upset her enough to cause her to avoid him. 

 

He doesn’t even know what he may have done. 

 

It’s several weeks later when an answer hits him in the face. Quite literally. 

 

“Do you like Rayla?” Ezran practically demands, smacking him in the face with his arms as he asks. 

 

“Do I  _ what _ ?” 

 

“Like Rayla? You know, like like her?” 

 

“Ez…” Callum rubs at his eyes, “I… you can’t just ask me that!” 

 

“It’s important though!” Ezran insists, sitting down crisscrossed in front of him, “listen Callum. Do you think about her all the time? Do you want to make her happy?” 

 

Callum frowns, but… if he’s being honest with himself… 

 

“Okay, okay, I… might - I said might! - have a crush on her. A little one.” He’s deluding himself, but he refuses to admit it. 

 

“You should tell her,” Ezran looks far too happy and Callum shoots him a death glare. 

 

“Tell her, how would I even do that?” 

 

“I don’t know…” Ezran glances around, “Practice on Aaliyah!” 

 

The young oceanwave elf, who had been passing by, blinks a couple of times, “I’m sorry, what was that?” 

 

“You can help Callum practice confessing his undying love for Rayla!” Ezran gives them both mischievous glances before practically skipping away.

 

To be fair, though, it works - Callum spends several days practicing with Aaliyah, and talking to her as well. Shy as she is, it was hard to get her to open up enough, but she seemed very… well, very enthusiastic about getting Callum and Rayla together. 

 

“I just think you two are very nice together,” she says simply, “it would be good for both the humans and the elves to see you two as a couple.” 

 

One day, he’s practicing with Aaliyah, as always. Her Rayla impression has gotten much better, and he’s able to force laughter and a smile while talking. With how drawn off Rayla’s been recently, it’s actually kind of nice. 

 

Then, he hears footsteps. 

 

He turns his head to see Rayla - or, at least, he thinks it’s Rayla - very quickly walking off, her head low. He turns to Aaliyah, and she gives him a look of horror. 

 

“Go after her,” she says simply, and so he does, running after the elf that he cares about so much. 

 

When he finds her, his heart shatters. 

 

She’s in her room - not surprising - and although her door is closed, it is unlocked. He easily pushes it open, her name on his lips. 

 

“Ray- Rayla!” 

 

She’s on her knees and then on the floor, curled in a ball while coughing. Blood droplets spray from the force of her coughs, along with something… yellow? 

 

He runs. 

 

Callum drops to his knees, gently maneuvering Rayla so that he’s holding her, clutching her aching body to his own, saying her name over and over and over. 

 

“Rayla - Rayla, please, what’s wrong? How can I help you?” He begs her, his voice rising accidentally. Not that he can help it. 

 

Her coughing stops, and she looks at him for the first time. Her eyes are glazed and unfocused, her lips drawn back in a grimace. Callum can’t help but pull her closer to him, smoothing back her hair and praying that she’ll be okay.    
  


“Cal… Callum, I… I…” she stutters in a hoarse voice, no louder than a whisper. He leans in closer, hoping to catch the last of her words, hoping that maybe she’ll tell him what to  _ do.  _

 

However, instead, her eyes close and her head falls limp into his lap.

 

“Rayla… Rayla!” Callum’s heart beats frantically, because this can’t be the end, he can’t lose her like this, he can’t, not without saying…

 

“I love you.” and it comes out as a whisper, his voice strangled and hoarse because although her heart is still beating she looks so small and frail in his arms. He swallows thickly, leaning down to press a light kiss to her forehead, “I love you, Rayla, so you can’t leave me. Not yet.  _ Please _ .” 

 

He isn’t prepared for when she gasps, curling upwards on herself to cough almost frantically. More of that yellow - are those flowers? - stuff comes out, and he holds her gently as she coughs and coughs and coughs. 

 

Finally, the coughing stops and she falls backwards with a miserable groan, all but collapsing back into his arms. He’d be worried except her skin tone is steadily returning to normal, her eyes exhausted but light, her expression grimacing but healthy. 

 

“Ugh,” she groans, and she presses her head against his chest - perhaps unconsciously - her eyes fluttering. She’s obviously exhausted and probably still sick. But alive. 

 

“We’ll talk about this later,” Callum murmurs, standing up and struggling to continue carrying Rayla. He makes it work, though, and he gently sets her in bed. 

 

~~~~

 

They do talk about it. 

 

Rayla talks about Runaan, about how he suffered through the same disease and only lives now because he had the guts to actually tell his crush how he felt. “I didn’t think I could do it,” she confesses, “I didn’t want to ruin what we had.” 

 

“You didn’t ruin anything,” Callum tells her, “not the way you would’ve if I had lost you.” 

 

It takes her a couple of weeks to make a full recovery. The sickness - hanahaki, Rayla calls it - took a heavy toll on her, physically and mentally. She spends days at a time curled up in bed, doing nothing but drinking moonberry juice and sleeping. Callum has to call off a couple of meetings because of it, but he doesn’t really mind much. 

 

He’s so used to Rayla helping him that it feels nice to be the one helping her. He gets to sit at her bedside, keep her company by telling stories, stroke her surprisingly really soft hair whenever he wants. She never seems to mind - aside from being characteristically restless. He thinks that his stories keep her calm and still.

 

And if he steals a kiss or two… well, that’s another story. 

 


End file.
